Portable electronic devices for data storage are useful for data access and transfer, particularly outside of a desktop computer environment. Such devices enable the user to keep data at hand, rather than forcing the user to access such data from the memory or data storage of a single stationary computer. Currently, portable data storage is performed either with an electronic device that attempts to maintain all functions of the desktop computer, such as a Palm computing device for example, or with completely passive data storage devices, such as a floppy disk for example.
Both of these different types of portable data storage media suffer from drawbacks. A handheld computer/organizer has the advantage of being able to read, write, manipulate and display data, in addition to being able to store the data. However, as a smaller, more portable version of a desktop computer, the handheld computer is also relatively complex and more expensive. Organizers are not built to store large computer files. Even if they have this capability, they do not have a provision to exchange files, but only very specific information, such as the user's personal data. On the other hand, the floppy disk, which is a very inexpensive alternative, does not allow data transfer between similar devices without any intervention of a computer, as it requires a particular type of computer to be able to access the data, which is typically a PC computer running the Windows operating system. Thus, if the user wishes to transfer data from one floppy disk to another, the user must first locate a compatible computer with a compatible operating system, which would support the data exchange by copying the data first to its memory (or hard disk) and then copying the data onto the other floppy drive.